The Rise of the Sharing Economy: Estimating the Impact of Airbnb on the Hotel Industry

Abstract

Peer-to-peer markets, collectively known as the sharing economy, have emerged as alternative suppliers of goods and services traditionally provided by long-established industries. The authors explore the economic impact of the sharing economy on incumbent firms by studying the case of Airbnb, a prominent platform for short-term accommodations. They analyze Airbnb's entry into the state of Texas and quantify its impact on the Texas hotel industry over the subsequent decade. In Austin, where Airbnb supply is highest, the causal impact on hotel revenue is in the 8%–10% range; moreover, the impact is nonuniform, with lower-priced hotels and hotels that do not cater to business travelers being the most affected. The impact manifests itself primarily through less aggressive hotel room pricing, benefiting all consumers, not just participants in the sharing economy. The price response is especially pronounced during periods of peak demand, such as during the South by Southwest festival, and is due to a differentiating feature of peer-to-peer platforms—enabling instantaneous supply to scale to meet demand.

Diversifying and de-growing the circular economy: Radical social transformation in a resource-scarce world

“…(owever, this figure does not account for the very real possibilities of services like Airbnb having a notable rebound effect Schor ; Sorrell, . That is, its low cost and current novelty value actually promotes the expansion of tourist-based consumption (Guttentag, 2015;Tussyadiah & Pesonen, 2015;Zervas et al, 2015). Indeed, there is evidence that suggests that, as Airbnb expands the range of lower-cost destination choices, it has increased user travel frequency and length of stay (Airbnb, 2015b), which means that travels resulting from peer-to-peer accommodation may cause more environmental pressures and lead to resource exploitation and overcrowding in the destinations (Tussyadiah & Pesonen 2015: 14).…”

“…due to the behaviours of Airbnb users , as well as the longer term impact on local housing affordability (e.g. see Tussyadiah & Pesonen, 2015;Zervas et al, 2015).…”

Airbnb and the Hotel Industry in Warsaw: An Example of the Sharing Economy?

“…Platforms have significantly lowered the entry barriers in heavily regulated services − most notably in the areas of urban passenger transportation and the provision of accommodation. Services mediated via platforms have gained significant market shares and seem to be substitutes (at least to a certain extent) for services supplied by traditional firms (Zervas et al 2017; Guttentag and Smith 2017). Many platforms have proved to be disruptive innovators, changing the value proposition in different economic sectors.…”

Tecnologías de la información: amenazas y oportunidades para la transformación de la ciudad contemporánea

“…Un estudio empírico de la Boston University ha detectado que por un incremento del 10% del tamaño de mercado de Airbnb en Texas, la caída en los ingresos hoteleros correspondería solamente a un 0,37%, un dato que no debería preocupar demasiado a las compañías hoteleras. El impacto sobre los hoteles más expuestos en los últimos cuatro años se calcula alrededor del 10%, impulsando una bajada de precios como respuesta, y cuyo resultado último puede poner en crisis los beneficios de un sector que necesita de grandes inversiones y largos periodos de amortización (Zervas et al, 2014). Una reducción del número de camas ofrecidas en una ciudad, aunque tendencia que en la actualidad no viene reflejada por las estadísticas, obligaría a una reconversión de los edificios construidos con tales fines.…”